There are a number of physical barriers that are often used in regulating the flow of pedestrian traffic in designated areas. Exemplary types of physical barriers include erectable signs, banners, vertical cones, and gates. Such barriers have typically been developed to restrict individuals from entering or exiting controlled access areas, to provide warnings, or to identify passageways or direction to individuals. Many of these physical barriers are often used in banks, shopping centers, movie theaters, government buildings, and other public forums.
Traffic or vehicle barriers have also been developed to provide controlled access of vehicle traffic to restricted areas such as parking lots, parking garages, loading docks, or to control the flow of traffic on roads and highways. Typical vehicle barriers often include plastic barrels, cones, colored poles, interlocking barriers filled with a ballast material such as water or sand to help stabilize the barriers, reinforced steel barriers, cement barriers, traffic safety barriers including a plank disposed between A frame legs, and barriers including a gate arm that is operatively pivoted in a horizontal and generally vertical position to provide passage of vehicle traffic. Many conventional vehicle barriers employ physical indicators, such as reflective tape, markers, or bright colors, to help increase visibility and effectively capture drivers' attention to better assist them in visually identifying vehicle barriers from a distance, and at night. However, many vehicle barriers including such physical indicators provide limited use. For example, most physical indicators are more effective during the day when a driver's visibility is less impaired as compared to at night. Also, driver's often cannot see the physical indicators from greater distances, and as such, by the time the driver is alerted to the presence of the barrier, the vehicle is within close proximity of the barrier thereby further impairing the driver's ability to respond effectively. The reflective tape, markers or bright colors, used on vehicle barriers, tend to fade over time, are often covered with debris, and provide limited visibility at night.
To address the limitations that vehicle barriers with physical indicators provide, many vehicle barriers have been developed to include an electronic light assembly. In use, most light assemblies are typically fastened to the outer surface of barriers using mounting flanges, brackets, screws, or bolts. The light assembly typically includes a large, round red or yellow lens body attached to a waterproof receptacle for housing circuitry and a power source such as batteries. One or more incandescent bulbs are generally connected to the power source, via a switching mechanism. Such light assemblies are often seen on vehicle barriers comprising barrels, and safety barriers where the light assembly is secured on top of a horizontal plank, or on top of the support frame. Vehicle barriers including electronic light assemblies are designed to alert drivers to the presence of vehicle barriers at night or in low lit areas.
However, conventional vehicle barriers employing electronic light assemblies have certain drawbacks. Many vehicle barriers use a single, light assembly that is mounted on the external surface of the vehicle barrier. The single light assembly often provides limited visibility to drivers at night. Further, maintenance of such light assemblies can be time consuming, burdensome and costly. Prior art light assemblies tend to be bulky, heavy and are typically mounted on the external surface of vehicle barriers using large brackets, or a number of blots thus increasing both the costs and time in attaching and removing the light assemblies for each vehicle barrier. Technicians are often forced to remove light assemblies from vehicle barriers to make necessary repairs as a result of traffic engaging the vehicle barriers and damaging the lighting devices. Also, general maintenance of the light assemblies can be time consuming, and often results in the need for placing the vehicle barriers out of commission for a period of time while making necessary repairs, or replacing parts.